On the surface, the council would say that the MSD members should be forever thankful for the council’s generous offer to split costs and cap future liability. Not stated is the total effective tax rate on the MSD members the council plans to impose for its benevolence.
An effective tax rate for the solution can be determined as 72 cents per $100, or more than twice the current village rate of 31 cents, which the MSD members also pay. This means, for a home appraised at $250,000, the homeowner is annually paying $1,800 to the village over and above the $1,912.50 already paid in village and county taxes. No logical argument can be made for the council’s plan to financially penalize the MSD members.
Using village data, it can be determined that a general tax rate increase of .0225 cents would be required to cover the current operating costs of the village property now comprising the MSD. This equates then, for the same home appraised at $250,000, an annual tax rate increase of 58 cents per property. Why the village proposes to levy a tax rate 3,100 times greater on the MSD members as opposed to simply abolishing the MSD and absorbing the minor cost can only be seen as a desire to be punitive to the MSD members for unknown reasons.
The MSD tragedy is in its 12th year and needs to be ended, as the MSD members have been financially punished long enough. Never has there been a better time for the Village Council to do the right thing and abolish the MSD rather than create another noise ordinance.
Doug Middaugh
Pinehurst
